Fitting It All In.

This school year, I have the unusual challenge of having one child in charter school.  This school is unique, in that, it does not provide transportation.  So, my husband drives my oldest child to school in the mornings.  I make the hour round trip to pick him up in the afternoons.  With that addition to our schedule, this is how a day in our home looks.

5:30 am Time to exercise, shower, pray, check email, fold a basket of laundry, do a load of dishes, etc.
6:30 am Breakfast and Spuds Dresses for School
7:00 am Family Devotional (We read a page or two of scripture and commentary from Discover the Scriptures: Old Testament and we have prayer.)
7:15 am Spuds and Hubby leave for school and work
7:25 am Finish the Morning Routine (PeeWee and I bathe the 3 toddlers, get them dressed and changed.  We clean up the table, start the dishes and a load of laundry.)
8:15 am Finish devotional.  Do pledge of allegiance, sing a primary song, do copywork or questions from Discover the Scriptures, recite an article of faith, recite memory poetry.
8:30 am  Saxon Math 3 for PeeWee; Little ones play.
9:15 am Table work for PeeWee: Explore the Code, First Language Lessons, A Reason for Writing (handwriting), Building Spelling Skills; Any work not finished during this time is finished in the afternoon.
9:45 am Pack up for outdoor time.
10:00 am Outdoor Time or Indoor Recreation Time (if the weather is bad). 
11:00 am Booboo goes down for nap; PeeWee and I read our Time Travelers: Explorers Lesson and go over the projects.  We also read in Boxcar Children.  We take turns reading alternate pages.  We use the literature study guide for Boxcar Children from Veritas Press.  We use the questions for oral narration at this point, but will be working up to written responses over the next few weeks.
11:45 am PeeWee works on literature and history projects.  Preschool Time. 
12:30 pm Mom cleans and preps lunch.  Bebe and Schmoocas watch an educational preschool video.
1:00 pm Lunch and clean up.
1:30 pm Subject of the Day: M-Spanish, Tu-Music, W-Computers, Th-Geography, F-Art.
2:30 pm PeeWee works on table work assignments.
3:00 pm Leave to pick up Spuds from charter school.
4:00 pm Snack time.
4:15 pm Homework time for Spuds and PeeWee finishes work or reads (if necessary).
5:00 pm Family Cleaning Time
5:30 pm Outdoor Play Time for oldest 2 kids.  Table play for the toddlers.  Mom preps supper.
6:30 pm Supper, clean-up and make lunches for tomorrow.
7:00 pm Older kids take showers.  Get younger kids changed and dressed in pajamas.
7:30 pm Stories, scripture readers, brush teeth and family prayer.
8:00 pm Kids' Bedtime and Mom/Dad Time
9:30 pm Our Bedtime (if we can wait that long).

We adapt this schedule on a few days, as follows:
Tuesday-5:15 pm Soccer
Wednesday-7:00 pm Family Home Evening
Thursday-Homeschool Field Trip Day.  We drop most of the table work and focus on Math, Reading, Spelling, Writing and Geography for our short day.  6:30 pm Scouts

We were exhausted at the end of this week, but this schedule allowed us to get so much done!  It's definitely worth the early start.

My North Carolina

Here it is, folks!  The very best BBQ around.  Not an smudge of red BBQ sauce to be found.  This is pure vinegar, North Carolina BBQ!  Mmmmm.  I love this place.  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but then the best places never do.  This is down-home goodness to a T.  I've been going to Flips, in Wilmington, NC, since my honeymoon in 1997.  My husband's family has been going for decades.  So, a stop here was an absolutely must. 

This was my big kids' first trip to Flips!  Hard to believe, but it's true.  So, how'd they like it?  See for yourself...

 

Don't forget to add a side of hush puppies and an order of banana pudding.  If I ever had to pick a last meal, this would be it.

My wonderful mother-in-law invited us to stay in her Wrightsville Beach house (just outside of Wilmington, NC) for the week before Fourth of July.  Hubby and I had taken a few trips to North Carolina since we became parents, but never had we visited as a family during the Summer.  Spuds and PeeWee went to Mexico with us when they were 3 and 4 and got in a little beach time, but the youngest 3 had never seen a beach.  As you can imagine, they loved it!  Here's the line-up.

Boo-boo only got a mouthful or two of sand. 

Spuds and PeeWee practiced body boarding and built their sand castles.

 

Can you see those model genes in Bebe?  She takes more good photos than any other kid in the family.

Schmoocas is my collector.  His favorites are rocks and, obviously, seashells.

Here's the whole family, plus one.  Miss S,, in the pink suit, is Hubby's youngest first cousin.  She helped with the little ones on the sand. 

Here's my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law and Hubby.  They always look like a JCrew ad.  Too beautiful!  Did I tell you that my mother-in-law was a model?  Great bone structure, huh?

Can't wait for our next NC trips.  More later...

Here's my babies!

I know you're dying to catch a peek at my little ones.  At my husband's request, we're not using our real names on the blog.  Instead, I'll substitute our nicknames.  Some names are from Grandpa.  Some of the nicknames are from us.  Spuds is my 9 y.o. son.  PeeWee is my 8 y.o. daughter.  Yep, they're bio siblings.  We adopted them from Denver foster care.  Aren't they beautiful?!  Schmoocas is my 3 y.o. son.  Bebe is my 3 y.o. daughter.  Booboo is my 1 y.o. son.  He chose to stay in my arms, rather than ride on the hayride.  Go figure. 

This photo is from our Primary's Pioneer Day celebration.  There was all sorts of pioneer games, crafts and yummy foods.  There was also a fantastic rope pull.  Too much fun.

More to come...